Quotes of the month

"If you look at the behaviour of many banks even last year, they were in denial over the rising cost of funding. They were still doing loss-making loans in the hope of generating a return by cross-selling other services"

Jean-Pierre Mustier, head of UniCredit’s corporate and investment bank, has been radically changing the firm’s model long before last month’s big announcement by UBS

"The Italian economy may be suffering but this transaction does highlight the confidence the Italian people have in the state, the government and the country"

Maria Cannata, director general, public debt management, at the MEF in Rome, on the importance of Italy’s €18 billion bond issue in October

"There is nothing new under the sun. There is always an element of give and take when attempting to establish a consensus because countries have different views about what is important to their financial systems. But the Basle III agreement is what it is and the committee is now dealing with technical details"

Stefan Ingves, chairman of the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision, makes clear his opinion that the anti-Basle III talk is a lot of hot air

"The purpose of the sovereign wealth fund [...] is to invest transparently, to invest according to a clear investment strategy and, where possible, help with the social development of the country"

José Filomeno Dos Santos, the president’s son and one of the fund’s board members, on the strategic importance of Angola’s new sovereign wealth fund